Chapter 132: Jiang (Additional chapter for 20,000 recommended votes)
The harvested beans will be placed in the yard to dry. When they are dry enough, they can be threshed. Once all the beans are threshed, the rice can be harvested. After the rice is harvested, it needs to be threshed and dried. Once all the work is done, the Mid-Autumn Festival is over and September has arrived.
Everyone was very busy during this period, so naturally they had no time to think about ginger and planting. Zhou Silang was busy running in and out every day and was almost exhausted. Every night after dark, he still insisted on sleeping in his straw hut, and every morning Zhou Wulang would come over and kick him awake.
But no matter how tired he was, he still insisted on guarding the Jiang land. In his words, he had come this far and could not give up, as this was related to his debt repayment.
Although he would sleep soundly with his belly bulging in the straw hut, and maybe he wouldn't even notice if someone pulled out all the ginger, as long as he lived there he would be a deterrent. To be honest, the ginger had never been lost again.
He felt that it was not because people were too tired from the autumn harvest to steal ginger, but because they were afraid of his bravery and hard work that no one came.
After harvesting the melons and beans, before anyone had time to rest, the rice had ripened and the weather began to change, with rain starting to fall from time to time.
In order to catch up with the farming season, everyone in the Zhou family, except Qian and Manbao, has to go to the fields. This year, the family has a new child, Zhou Xi, so the speed is faster than before.
Bundles of rice were carried back to the yard, and even though Old Zhou was tired, he still had a smile on his face.
Because the workload was so heavy, Manbao took out all his savings to buy meat for everyone. Qian was also generous with her food and money, and she cooked for everyone herself.
So after the autumn harvest in January, although everyone was dark and thin, they were in good spirits.
Old Zhou called his daughter to his side and asked her to calculate how much tax their family would have to pay this year. After the autumn harvest, they would have to pay the tax grain.
Old Zhou thought of what happened to the fourth child last year, looked up and glanced at him, and said, "This year, the eldest child will take the second, third, and fifth children with him, and the fourth child will stay at home."
Zhou Silang lowered his head and tried to reduce his presence as much as possible.
The day of the autumn grain harvest happened to be a day off for Manbao and his family, and she wanted to join in the fun, so she took Old Zhou's hand and said, "Dad, let Fourth Brother go, we'll take some ginger to sell."
"Can ginger be sold now?"
"Okay, okay, let's exchange some money and buy some meat."
Old Zhou was a little worried. Why did his little girl think about eating all day long?
He patted her head and said, "Use the money from the sale to let your fourth brother pay off all the family debts. We'll use the money to build a few houses. If there's more money, we'll build one for you too."
He had already thought it through. "You are a scholar now, so you must have your own room. When the time comes, ask your second brother to make you a bamboo screen. Half of the room can be used as a bedroom and the other half as a study."
When Manbao heard this, her eyes lit up. If she had her own room, then she could talk to Koko as long as she wanted, right?
She immediately expressed her loyalty, "Dad, I'll also build you a house with my share of the money."
Old Zhou: ...Why, we still have to divide the money from the Jiang land? Isn't it all his?
Manbao obviously didn't know what his father was thinking. After calculating the grain tax he had to pay, he ran to Zhou Silang and said, "Fourth Brother, it's better to sell the young ginger with the leaves. The leaves can also be fried. We don't have an iron pan at home, but people who do have iron pans will definitely like it."
Zhou Silang blinked and asked, "How do you know? Have you eaten it?"
Manbao drooled and said, "No, my friend told me."
"Young Master Bai, right? What's the best thing to stir-fry with ginger leaves? Tell me so I can answer people who ask when I want to sell it."
"With meat." Manbao thinks that everything in the world tastes good when fried with meat.
Zhou Silang obviously thought so too, so he nodded.
Keke said helplessly: "Actually, it tastes better when stir-fried. You can also stir-fry it with eggs."
This was a recipe from their time. The ginger that Manbao grows now is purchased from the mall. It has a very strong reproductive ability and just a small piece can produce a large piece.
Its leaves are also delicious. The leaves are still tender now, and they are good whether stir-fried or stewed in soup. However, Manbao tried stewing it in soup last time and didn’t think it tasted good, so she ruled it out first and insisted that ginger leaves taste better when stir-fried.
Although she had never eaten stir-fried ginger leaves.
Because it was his first time selling ginger and he didn't know the market situation, Zhou Silang didn't dare to dig too much. After digging a small basket, he took it to the river to wash it.
Today, all six brothers of the Zhou family are going to the county town, and even Zhou Xi is going with them.
This is what Manbao insisted on. She told her parents, "The ginger on that piece of land belongs to my eldest sister. How to sell it and how much to sell it for is up to my eldest sister."
Turning around, he said to Zhou Xi, "Sister, you have to keep your own money so you can do whatever you want. If you let us help you sell ginger, we'll take a cut."
Zhou Xi asked with a smile, "Aren't you going to use the money to buy meat for your family?"
"Yes, because the money is in my hands, I can buy meat for the family if I want, and I can buy cloth if I want. But if it is in my mother's hands, then I definitely can't do anything I want." So Manbao knew from a young age that he had to earn money and spend the money he earned himself.
Zhou Xi was slightly stunned, then nodded after a brief thought, "Okay, I'll go with you."
Zhou Xi has invested a lot of effort in the land. As Manbao said, the only two acres of land in this family truly belong to her.
At first she didn't know whether the ginger could survive, so she didn't pay much attention to it, but after they really sprouted, she became very attentive.
She did all the fertilizing, weeding, and insect catching herself. She even suggested and helped with the division of the plants, which Zhou Silang had not considered.
For the past six months, she has been taking medicine regularly. In addition, she is not as tired at her mother's house and eats better than before. Her complexion has become much rosier and her hands and feet are no longer cold.
But correspondingly, she had almost spent all her money.
Zhou Xi had wanted to raise Manbao before, but her mother was firm in her attitude, so she gave up the idea. Since she couldn't raise Manbao and she didn't want to get married, she had to prepare to set up a female household.
Her father didn't say it, but Zhou Xi knew that her father was quite dissatisfied with her because she suggested raising Manbao.
Zhou Xi and Man Bao said, "Big sister is not familiar with the county town. Take me to sell ginger, and I will give you a commission."
Manbao's eyes lit up when he heard that, and he patted his chest to assure, "Don't worry, big sister, I've found several customers in advance. But we shouldn't take too much at once, otherwise they'll force us to lower the price. Fourth brother took a basket, so you can take one too."
Zhou Xi agreed with a smile and asked her, "What kind of customers have you found?"
"That's a lot. You'll know when you get to the county town."
(End of this chapter)
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